1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems; and, more particularly, to monitoring communications of other wireless communication devices for various purposes within single user, multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications.
2. Description of Related Art
Communication systems support wireless and wire lined communications between wireless and/or wire lined communication devices. The systems can range from national and/or international cellular telephone systems, to the Internet, to point-to-point in-home wireless networks and can operate in accordance with one or more communication standards. For example, wireless communication systems may operate in accordance with one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11x (where x may be various extensions such as a, b, n, g, etc.), Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system for mobile communications (GSM), etc., and/or variations thereof.
In some instances, wireless communication is made between a transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) using single-input-single-output (SISO) communication. Another type of wireless communication is single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) in which a single TX processes data into radio frequency (RF) signals that are transmitted to a RX that includes two or more antennae and two or more RX paths.
Yet an alternative type of wireless communication is multiple-input-single-output (MISO) in which a TX includes two or more transmission paths that each respectively converts a corresponding portion of baseband signals into RF signals, which are transmitted via corresponding antennae to a RX. Another type of wireless communication is multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) in which a TX and RX each respectively includes multiple paths such that a TX parallel processes data using a spatial and time encoding function to produce two or more streams of data and a RX receives the multiple RF signals via multiple RX paths that recapture the streams of data utilizing a spatial and time decoding function.
In some situations, it is desirable for a wireless communication device to know its location within a wireless communication system and/or its actual physical location within a vicinity or on earth. While there are certain means in the prior art by which a device may determine its location (e.g., global positioning system (GPS)), there is ample room for improvement in the ways in which devices determine their location. Also, there is also ample room for new solutions by which devices may determine their location. The prior art does not provide solutions and technologies by which all wireless communication devices may operate to determine their location in efficient and accurate ways.